Quickdown turns out to be a lifesaver against large weeds

Last year, arable farmer Reynold Ypma from Arum faced a difficult problem on one of his seed potato plots. Due to wet weather before the start of the planting work, he was unable to fight the ample available chamomile well. Crop advisor Jan Koelmans offered a ready-made solution: Quickdown as a lifesaver.

After the mild, relatively wet winter of 2020-2021, grower Reynold Ypma had to deal with well-developed chamomile plants on a loamy plot early on. "Combating by means of a mechanical tillage was impossible because of the continuous precipitation," he recalls. "And spraying with glyphosate in the spring is not recommended because of emergence problems." The Frisian farmer feared that the chamomile would continue to hinder him for a long time. "After planting, it remained wet for a long time to soil the ridges. After that, we could not sufficiently clean up the chamomile plants that were still present with the milling. If those plants remain standing, the weed plants will compete with the seed potatoes for nutrition. you can no longer tackle them with chemical means. The only thing that still helps is the glove, but with 25 hectares of seed potatoes, that is not the case."

Adequate contact herbicide
Nevertheless, it was necessary to reduce the weed pressure, otherwise the seed crop would face too much competition from the chamomile. Crop advisor Jan Koelmans of George Pars Graanhandel from Sint Jacobiparochie was asked if he knew of a solution. "Jan suggested using the Quickdown agent as an emergency measure," says Ypma. "It is mainly known as an effective foliage killer, but the product is also authorized as a contact herbicide against weeds. Potato growers mainly use it after the final ridge build-up, just before the emergence of the crop. This is to burn off young weeds. However, it can also be used. stop the growth of more developed weeds, which it also does as a haulm killer. Jan therefore advised applying the product after planting and just before the final ridge build-up with the row cultivator."

Small practical test
Certis seized the opportunity to set up a field trial for this application on the plot. This was subdivided into an untreated strip and, among other things, a strip with 0,4 liters of Quickdown per hectare. "After application, it turned out that the agent had done its job well. The chamomile plants that were still alive before they no longer developed," says Koelmans. According to him, the recommended dose of 0,4 liters per hectare is perfectly adequate to achieve that result.

No damage to young crop
Ypma notes that the agent did not cause any damage to some newly emerged potato plants. This property was already known in early application and is now underlined again. Looking back on the previous season, the seed potato grower says he is happy that he has opted for this emergency measure. "Fortunately, chamomile is not a problem this spring, but it's good to know that I can rely on it repeatedly. I'm also using Quickdown for haulm killing this season."